Barcelona to play defender Ronald Araujo in remaining games

Barcelona central defender Ronald Araujo has only played 14 minutes of first-team football for the club but he will be utilised in the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign.

A report in Diario Sport claims the Uruguayan will claim prominence due to fresh injury problems for Samuel Umtiti and the need to rotate the first choice central defensive pairing of Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet.

The 21-year-old moved to the Camp Nou in the summer of 2017 from Boston River, who are based in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo for a fee of €1.7m.

Araujo has made just one first-team appearance for the club to date but it did not go to plan – he replaced Jean-Clair Todibo in the 4-0 home win over Sevilla back in October, but he was later sent-off for kicking Javier Hernandez.

However, Todibo now looks set to be sold this summer and with questions on Samuel Umtiti’s future and Gerard Pique’s advancing years, Araujo could play a big part for the club in the coming years.

A recent report in Diario Sport outlined how the Blaugrana will start the process of applying for a Spanish passport for the player so that he does not take up one of the three non-EU spots in the first-team squad.

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